The Jennifer Incident
by Atlas Arrow
Summary: A sequel to "Writer's Block". Nearly a month after hearing about Kraken's new girlfriend, Vanya returns from college and is forced to deal with a situation that she'd rather avoid. It quickly spirals into a headline scandal. Kraken/Vanya
1. Chapter 1

Vanya threw her duffle bag at the foot of her bed. It landed with a solid 'plop' and she threw herself onto her bed. Small clouds of dust rose as she did so, since it appeared that no one had bothered to make her bed while she was gone. That was okay though, she had much bigger fish to fry.

Item one on the list; exactly three weeks, two days, and four hours (Not that she was counting) had passed since she'd heard about Kraken's new girlfriend, Jennifer. Roughly the same time she had decided that she hated her, for reasons that she was horribly aware of. She had sent a letter in reply not even mentioning the girl and had opted instead to talk about her new math teacher who'd had to come in when the original got pregnant.

Item two; now that she was actually there, she wouldn't just be able to blow it off. What if he wanted to talk to her about her? Vanya gritted her teeth. She'd probably sock him one, and then it would be horribly difficult to explain to just about anyone why she had done it without giving anything important away.

Item three; this was going to be the worst summer vacation anyone had ever had. This would most likely include the time that her father had sent her to the boarding school three weeks early. At least she had been somewhat relieved when that had happened. Now that rule didn't apply anymore, and she wished that college would've continued for a little longer until she would be able to face this.

This brought her to item four; she would most likely never be able to face this. Irritably she got up from her bed and took of her jacket. It was only serving to make her feel more hot, and right now she needed to have a cool head. Rubbing her temples she glanced at her duffle bag, which she would probably have to unpack soon.

There was a knock on her window. She didn't have to ask who it was.

"Latch is undone," she said without bothering to turn around.

"See you've rolled out the welcoming mat then," smirked Kraken as he climbed in through the now open window.

"Don't suppose you could use the door like everyone else?" she asked, trying to keep her tone light.

"Doors are only for people who can't use windows," he said flatly, sitting down next to her, "So, college turn you into a hippie yet?"

"Not all colleges are like that," she said, smiling a little in spite of herself.

"You're going to a liberal arts college," he said, "You a vegetarian now? Picketed any military facilities? Grown any sunflowers? Smoked any-?"

She cut him off there with a playful punch to his arm. Perhaps this wouldn't be as bad as she thought it would.

"Don't be so fucking touchy," he grimaced, "They'll get you one of these days. Slowly but surely-"

"What the hell is that makes you think I'd turn into a hippie?" she queried, rolling her eyes.

"Not saying you'll want to," Kraken smirked, "But it'll be like a zombie virus, see? You'll be infected before you know it. You've already got a hippie roommate."

"I never should've told you about Diane," Vanya said, turning for the first time to face him.

"Too late now," he said, absently taking out a knife and twirling it, one of his more unsettling habits.

"I won't tell you anything if you're going to be like that."

He raised his eyebrows and tilted her chin up with the hand that didn't have a knife in it. She fought furiously to fight the rising blush.

"Something wrong?" he frowned

"Why do you say that?" she asked, slightly panicked.

"Little soon in the morning to threaten me with alienation," he said, "Don't you think?"

She shrugged and he let go of her chin. Inwardly she let out a sigh of relief. She'd gotten away with it.

"Anyway," he said, "Want to go down to Norton's 'round midnight? The band's supposed to be shit, but the beer's cheap and he still doesn't check I.D's."

Vanya hesitated for a moment.

"Maybe I shouldn't be sneaking out on my first night back-" she started.

"Body and the rest are going to be there," he said temptingly, "They're askin' 'bout you you know."

Sighing, she caved.

"Why not?" she said.

"That's the spirit. Gotta go before the bastard notices I'm gone," he smirked again, heading towards the window, "Supposed to be on patrol right now."

"I feel flattered that you took the time," she said.

"Not every day you come back from college," he said, "Besides, I need to get rid of the fucking liberal streak that's growing in you. Next thing you know you won't approve of me using this."

He brandished his knife for emphasis.

"Yeah, like you'd listen," she shot back.

"Who knows if you're doin' the asking."

Grinning she moved to open the window for him. Perhaps things weren't as bad as she'd thought. Maybe he'd already broken up with-

"Oh, by the way," he added casually as he was halfway out the window, "Jen's comin' too. Apparently she likes the shit bands, don't blame her for that. I'm workin' on it, I'm workin' on it."

Vanya's grin froze on her face.

"Besides that though, you might like her though," he said, making it the rest of the way through the window, "I'll come get you when the time comes, 'kay?"

Before she could yell the protest that her mind was already screaming he'd disappeared.


	2. Chapter 2

"I can't do it," Vanya said, furiously shoving hoop earrings through her ears, "No, I **won't **do it. Simple as that."

"If you won't do it," ventured Horror, "Then how come you're already dressed-up?"

She whirled around at him angrily. Horror recoiled and she deflated slightly. It's not like it was his fault.

"I can't let her interfere with things," she muttered, "If I stop going to Norton's, then I stop seeing my friends. She's not going to ruin things for me anymore than she already has."

Turning to her mirror she took a tube of too-red-lipstick and started smearing it on. Once she had done her make-up to her satisfaction she picked up her black leather and feather jacket. She had always liked that jacket, it went well with the torn red velvet dress and she'd gotten compliments from the other punks that visited the bar. Now though, she felt like the outfit was too scratchy and too over the top.

"And what if she's nice!" she exclaimed suddenly, "I mean, it's all very well for me to imagine her as some bitch but what if she's nice? Then **I'm** in the wrong!"

"I'm sure she's a jerk?" tried Horror soothingly.

"You're a great guy to say that, really, but…just…urgh! I feel like a goddamned teenager!"

"You're acting like one too."

Vanya turned around to see Rumor leaning casually in the doorway.

"Boy trouble?" she asked sweetly.

"None of your business," snapped Vanya.

"Well, it's my department. And you can't expect to get any good advice from Ben," Rumor said, stepping into the room and shutting it behind her, "No offense, but I don't think he's too well versed in the dating scene."

She smiled apologetically at Horror who nodded emphatically. Vanya sighed. She wasn't sure why she had told Horror about how things stood with her and Kraken. At the time she was sure that she'd done it because if she didn't tell someone she'd go absolutely mad. Still, it had been rather unfair to force her problems on her brother.

"Now, tell me about it," Rumor said, sitting down on the bed next to Horror.

Drumming her nails on the table Vanya thought it through. The rules of survival in the Hargreeves manor were simple; you didn't go into Hargreeves' office, you didn't wear your shoes on the rugs, you hid anything private, you cleaned up after yourself, and you didn't trust Rumor with anything personal. She was a liar and a cheat and a whistle blower.

"Why do you want to help me?" she settled on, just to buy time.

Rumor gave a beautiful smile.

"So you'll owe me later," she answered, "Oh, and it might be entertaining."

Horror was starting to look uncomfortable and Vanya went back to drumming her nails. Finally though, because Horror really did know **nothing **about this sort of thing, she said;

"At college there was…this guy I liked."

When she spoke she looked up into the mirror to see their expressions. Rumor was looking self-satisfied and Horror was confused. Fortunately though, when Horror was confused he tended to stay very quiet.

"It was good, and I thought something was going to happen but we didn't start going out before the semester ended," she continued, telling it like was, at least in a way, "And, he lives kinda nearby, you know? I didn't think it was going to be a problem but a friend told me he's seeing someone new-"

"Absolutely fabulous friend you've got there," observed Rumor.

"-and it happens that he goes to Norton's, and I kinda know he's gonna be there tonight," she finished.

Rumor shrugged.

"So don't go."

"I'm not letting that bastard run me out of my own fucking bar," Vanya snapped, whipping around.

Pushing her hair back Rumor smiled.

"Wow, maybe you are somewhat interesting," she said, "So, I'm guessing it's revenge you're after now?"

Vanya blinked.

"I suppose so," she replied.

Horror was starting to look very uncomfortable indeed.

"Then find a guy who's even better looking, richer, and drives a better car and go flirt with him," Rumor said, "Don't you know anything? It helps if these two hate each other. Then it's like 'Sorry, you're not good enough for me but this guy who's so much better than you is', get it?"

"That sounds like it could backfire real easy," Horror said, "I read books and watch TV shows where the jealousy thing doesn't always work…"

"Yeah, and what if these two just don't like each other because the other's actually just a jerk?" Vanya pointed out.

Shrugging again Rumor got up.

"You asked for my help-"

"No I didn't."

"-and you got it. It's worked for me, but then again, what do I know?" Rumor said, "I'm sure you know much more about this than I do. You've probably had scores of boyfriends, aren't I right?"

"Why did I even stop to listen to you?"

"Because you know I've had a lot more experience with the members of the male persuasion," Rumor said, winking.

"You can go now Miss-notch-in-her-lipstick-case," Vanya said, her tone cool.

"I know when I'm not wanted," Rumor said, going for the door.

"Then why'd you come in?" asked Vanya.

"But, let me tell you something," Rumor said, ignoring Vanya, "You follow my advice, see how it goes. Ten to one it'll get the guy riled up enough to at least admit feelings, if there are any and I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't. Or you can play it safe with Ben-I'm-afraid-of-girls-who-aren't-my-sisters' advice, no offense, or your own, Miss-never-had-a-notch-in-her-lipstick-case-because-I'm-a-prudey-little-virgin, get it?"

With a pretty little laugh Rumor walked out of the door and closed it behind her. Vanya stared at the hardwood for another minute.

"I really hate her sometimes," she said.

Sighing she turned around and faced Horror.

"I've gotta get to the garden and out the trick fence post in five minutes or I'll be late," she said, "Thanks for the listening and the sympathy."

Understandingly Horror got up. He paused then as she started to get out of the window, a rather difficult feat.

"Vanya?" he said timidly, "I'm sure things will work out with you and Diego."

"Sure hope so," she said bitterly.


	3. Chapter 3

"-and this is Jennifer," finished Kraken.

"Call me Jen," she said brightly.

Vanya bit her tongue to stop what **she **wanted to call her. Even so, it was difficult to even look at the girl. She was pretty, very pretty. Nice long auburn hair, clear skin, big eyes, like a fucking fairy tale princess. Then again, there was the attempted punk clothing, Vanya had been into it all long enough to spot a poser, and she was spotting one right now no matter how good she looked in it. It made her a sort of punk princess, but a princess none the less. This begged the question, of course, what Kraken of all people was doing with her.

So far the night had been going rather well. Her friends had been rather happy to see her back from college, all of them had shared Kraken's unreasonable belief that hippiness would have taken her over on her return. Still, at the back of her mind she hadn't been able to stop thinking about what came next, and now here it was.

"Great to meet you," she said, giving the fake smile reserved for teachers and Hargreeves.

"Same here," Jen said, "I've heard so much about you."

"Have you?" asked Vanya, "Not too much I hope."

Jen, and her stomach turned when she realized this, **giggled**. It wasn't laughter, it was **giggling**. Vanya gripped her beer and started thinking that maybe she'd need more than one to make it through the night.

"Hey, Diego!" yelled someone from the other side of the bar, "You still owe me money!"

Kraken grimaced.

"Let me go take care of something. Be back in a minute."

Watching him go Vanya felt sure that she'd need more than one beer that night.

"So you're his sister?" asked Jen conversationally.

She didn't know how she was going to do this. In the past Vanya had talked to Kraken's conquests, but mostly it had been along the lines of 'and you tell that sonuvabitch' sort of thing. Those she could handle. Chatting with a girl who was still going out with him and had been for some time was very different and much more unsettling.

"Adopted," Vanya replied, having always been very aware of the difference.

"He never told me that," Jen said, sounding shocked.

"Yeah well, he tends not to concentrate so much on the details," Vanya said, struggling to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

"Yes, he's just very straightforward," said Jen dreamily, "I mean, the word rugged starts but it doesn't really do it, does it? I mean, and can you just imagine-"

Whatever Jen was imagining Vanya cut her off. She'd done that enough herself and wasn't about to do it with anyone else.

"Sister, remember?" she interjected quickly, using an association she hated as a shield.

"Oh, sorry," she said, "But it's just, I do want us to be friends."

"I'm sure that will work out great," Vanya said, crossing her fingers behind her back.

"I think we should stick it together," confided Jen, "Because I did have to ask you something."

"Fire away," she said, noting the low level of her alcohol.

"Did he just come out of a difficult relationship?" she asked.

Vanya raised her eyebrows.

"Pardon?"

"Like, one that ended badly."

Briefly Vanya remembered the last girl Kraken had been with. It had lasted a week and had ended with the girl nearly breaking his nose. Vanya had been an amused observer to the whole event, and at the time it had reinforced her in her opinion that she was probably the only girl he could stand to be with for any length of time. Apparently not.

"I wouldn't have called it a relationship," said Vanya tersely, "So no, nothing's going on."

"It's just, I feel a little like the rebound girl, you know," said Jen, tugging on one of her sleeves, "I mean, we've been going out for about two months now and we haven't even-"

"Once more, sister," interjected Vanya, trying to keep from gritting her teeth.

"Sorry again," she said, "but I just want to know if there's some other girl hanging around in the background."

"No," Vanya said flatly, drinking some more, "You're the first relationship that's lasted so long in…"

The bitterness was starting to come through now, and fighting it was becoming more and more difficult.

"…ever."

"Good," Jen said, "But, you know, it's just, sometimes I feel like he's looking at me and wanting to see a different girl."

Something flashed in Jen's eyes.

"I don't like that sort of thing," she said, "Men are mine until I say they aren't, you know?"

Quickly looking away Vanya took another large draught of beer. Looks like she wasn't so sweet after all. SCORE!

"Don't know about that," shrugged Vanya.

"I mean, he doesn't get to keep things from me, you know?" she said with a toss of her hair, "I really start to hate it when men do that. They're not allowed to."

Vanya was losing the conversation.

"You don't say."

"I mean, I love the defiant streak in boys," Jen said, "Just as long as they understand they're mine once we start going out."

Vanya was starting to feel more and more like Jen was talking to herself and that she was just a convenient fixture.

"Vanya!"

With relief flooding through every pore she turned around to see her friend (and new best friend for the rescue) Body waving at her near the stage.

"Sorry Jen," smiled Vanya, the first genuine one she had given all night.

"Oh?" she asked, as if noticing Vanya was there for the first time in a long time, "Oh yeah. You haven't seen your friends in awhile. Go on then, don't mind me."

Her tone was sincere, and the princess was back. Nodding to her Vanya moved quickly through the crowds, trying to swallow the bile that was building up in her throat.


	4. Chapter 4

"So I see you've met Jennifer," Body observed.

"Yes," Vanya said shortly, sitting down hard on a chair, "Is she for real?"

"You know, I really couldn't say," the monkey shrugged, an interesting event since he had so much to boast about in the shoulder area, "I never saw her until she started going out with Diego."

"Same here," replied Vanya, drinking some more.

"You're drinking more than normal," observed Body, "Generally you just go and have enough so you didn't waste your money on the bottle. Never thought you were into this sort of thing."

"Mostly it was Diego's thing," shrugged Vanya, "I never really wanted to become an underage drinker."

She stared at the bottle.

"Times change apparently."

"Are you referring to Diego's apparent change in taste or something else?" he asked.

Vanya smiled half-heartedly.

"Tell me," she said, "Was I really in college for one hundred years without knowing it or have things suddenly gotten a lot weirder?"

"Define weirder," Body said, taking a sip of his own beer.

"You know what I mean."

"Well," said Body thoughtfully, "Jennifer, I refuse to call her Jen in anything other than her presence-"

Here Vanya nodded understandably.

"-really doesn't appear to be the type of person we'd hang out with," he said, "But like you said, times do change. And, to be perfectly frank, things have started to get rather odd since the day I met you and your brother."

Outwardly she nodded but inwardly she felt another glob of depression ladled onto her self-pitying stew. Brother and sister. Was that really all that it was? Really it didn't matter if everyone saw them that way, just as long as **he **didn't. Still, it wasn't encouraging to hear it from the lips of one of their closest friends.

Fingering her beer Vanya looked over at the crowd. That night it consisted of the usual type, albeit with the addition of a few people who had come with the friends. Inadvertantly her eyes drifted back to the bar area. Kraken had rejoined Jen, who was pointing cheerfully in Vanya's direction. Kraken gave a quick smile and Vanya nodded her head in return.  
"Go ahead and nod you disgusting bastard with your little slut princess, that's right, go ahead and turn around," mumbled Vanya quietly to herself, "Go back to being a total man-whore with the poser girl, don't mind me."

Turning around she saw that Body was looking at her curiously.

"Do tell me you didn't hear that," she said, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Perhaps you shouldn't talk to yourself if you don't want other people to hear," he said, "But, be comforted that if I were a human then I wouldn't have heard. However, jungle hearing and all that."

There was a rather uncomfortable pause.

"I'm not happy about it either," he said bluntly, "She's a moron and Diego needs to wake up and smell the fresh air."

"Yeah, she's all wrong for him," Vanya said.

"Well, that too," he said, "But I'm talking about the real fresh air here."

"Which is?" she asked, taking another sip of alcohol.

"That you've had the hots for him for several years."

As soon as his words registered in her mind Vanya choked and sprayed the beer all over the table.

"Funny," said Body, "I thought that sort of thing only happened in the comics."

"How-! I mean-! I never told you-!" she sputtered.

"I think sometimes members of the simian family notice this sort of things faster than the sapien one," Body mused, "You complicate these things so much with your what ifs when really it's the simplest thing on the planet."

"Not for me," Vanya said bitterly.

"Well, I'll agree with you on that," said Body, "I understand that the two of you are adopted which makes things more difficult-"

"It means that if I don't know for sure how he feels and I tell him than I permanently make things weird between us," she interrupted.

"Come now, it can't be that bad-"

"You think?" she snapped, "Don't forget that I've had a lot of time to think this out. Every damn day he'll look at me and remember what I did and what he said back. I'm not going to be the one who trashes what we have because while Ben's nice, you've met him so you know, Diego's the only one I can actually talk to."

She chugged down the last of her beer and wondered why they didn't make the damn bottles bigger.

"Now though, he's going out with someone," she said, "I've lost my chance, at least for now, and there's not a damned thing I can do about it."

"Well…" started Body.

"I'm right and you know it," she snapped.

"Well, in his defense and to your discredit you did wait far too long."

"Geez," she said, "Ever heard the term 'cold comfort'?"  
"I'm not going to molly-coddle you-" he started.

"Generally I dislike molly-coddling," she said coldly, "But, just for tonight I'd give my right arm for some."

"And what would that achieve oh wise sapien?"

"You know what?" she said, getting up suddenly, "I'm getting some more alcohol because right now it seems like the only thing that's taking my mind off of it. Thanks for all the help."

Turning her back on him she stalked through the crowds and towards the bar.


	5. Chapter 5

Pushing her way through the crowd was easier said than done. The better bands were on now and someone had started up a mosh pit near the stage. She knew from experience that the bouncers would have to be called in soon and then things would get ugly. In the past she used to enjoy it, since it happened just about every Battle of the Bands. Then again, generally she was in the mosh pit and Kraken was the one to start the disturbance.

Now she just wanted to find some earplugs, close her eyes, and block everything out. The closest thing she could get to that was alcohol though, and she was determined to get one. Finding a convenient seat (One far away from the two 'lovebirds) she ordered another beer and proceeded to drink it in under ten minutes. Then she fished in her pockets and started to order one more, just because the night seemed to be going that way.

"Allow me," a voice said smoothly.

Vanya looked up to see a rather suave man around her own age. He had rather clean blonde hair which went oddly with the black shirt and worn jeans. He looked handsome enough (Probably the booze speaking now) though, except for what appeared to be a jaw that had been broken at least once in the past.

"I can pay for my own drinks," she said, wondering if her tone was sharp enough and if not should she add a little sarcasm to it.

"I have no doubt of that," he said, sitting down next to her, "But as I said, allow me."

She raised her eyebrows and considered her next move. Normally at this point she'd have rolled her eyes and left the bar. She'd probably have added a flippant remark over her shoulder as well. However, the night seemed to be going in a different direction.

"Do you always do this for random girls at bars?" she asked, wondering where those words had come from.

"Sometimes," he said, "But this is more of an apology. You see, I do believe you were once in a band called-"

"The Prime-8's?" she said, wondering how much lemon juice could be poured into her many paper cuts that night, "Yeah that was the worst decision of my life. Didn't end well, I can tell you that."

"Well," he said, affecting an embarrassed tone, "I believe that at one of the shows I was rather inebriated and threw something on stage. A bottle I think? Or was it a glass? Or-"

Vanya nodded slowly as her memory came back.

"It was a bottle," she said, remembering well because it had smashed near her feet.

The embarrassed smile became more awkward.

"You got your jaw broken all of eight seconds later," she said, "I think that's penance enough."

His smile changed slightly before flickering back to what it had once been.

"Oh, for him I suppose but I do believe I owe **you **an apology," he said, "I've seen you around here quite a bit but you were always with your boyfriend and I do believe he wouldn't be pleased to see me again."

"Boyfriend?" she repeated.

"Yes," he said, "About six-foot two, blonde, never used a razor, has a habit of hitting people?"

Vanya laughed, somewhat out of the irony of the situation and somewhat out of the description. Bring on the salt too, just rub it in and watch it widen and sting.

"That's my **brother**," she said, putting particular emphasis on the hated title.

"And…apparently he's making some kind of motion to you now?" he said.

Tilting her head slightly she saw that Kraken was waving to her and pointing to the clock. She nodded back.

"Yeah, we gotta start heading back," she said, wondering if she should just ignore Kraken for a little longer.

"So, if he's your brother, then I'm supposing that the girl with him is your sister?" he asked.

Something inside Vanya snapped.

"Nope, she's his girlfriend," she said, completely turning her back on Kraken.

"I see," he said, "There I go again, mixing people up."

She laughed again, a little harder than she would've before. While she might not have been Rumor, she had had a few boyfriends in the past. She was completely aware how to flirt with people.

"Well, thanks for the beer apology but I'm afraid that just isn't going to do it," she said.

"Oh? A minute ago I had you saying you didn't need it."

"You know what?" she said, turning the corners of her mouth up slightly, "I think I changed my mind. It's not good enough anymore."

"Really?"

"Not at all," she said, moving a little closer to him.

"Well in that case, how about dinner sometime?" he asked, "Say, tomorrow, six o'clock, meet here then go somewhere a little less noisy?"

"Sure," she grinned.

He smiled again at her before looking over her shoulder.

"I do believe your brother is coming for you."

"God," she said, now rolling her eyes, "Anyway, see you then."

She got up now and was about to walk away when he said;

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the protocol here is to exchange numbers?"

She stopped and looked over her shoulder.

"Hold your horses there cowboy. We'll see how the first date goes."

At the end of her sentence she punctuated it with a wink. His eyebrows shot up in a way that was intrigued instead of irritated. (Good start.)

"Can we settle for names then?"  
Vanya smiled at him before saying;

"Vanya Hargreeves. Yours?"

"John. John Perseus."

"Nice to meet you," she said with a coy smile before heading off to meet Kraken.


	6. Chapter 6

"So," Kraken said casually as they walked home, "How was tonight with you?"

Vanya ran her tongue over her teeth to buy time before coming up with a decent lie. Jen had disappeared to her house before they had left, which was good because Vanya was feeling that she couldn't spend five more minutes around her. She had been digging around in her pockets for her gate keys which gave her a good excuse not to see the two kiss. Events had hurt her enough that night.

"Not bad," she said, "Some good, some boring."

(Some outright disgusting.)

"Isn't that always true?" grinned Kraken.

She nodded noncommittally and looked at her nails. The black nail polish was starting to chip and she knew that she was going to have to redo them. From her side she heard an odd coughing noise, like someone had something that was lodged in their throat. Frowning she looked up and stared at Kraken.

"Are you okay?" asked Vanya,

"Oh, uh, yeah," he said, "I'm fine."

"There's a supermarket down the road, we could get some water or cough syrup or something," said Vanya.

"No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

There were a few minutes of silence.

"I was just wondering who that guy was you were hanging out with," Kraken said uncomfortably.

A few more seconds of silence had passed as Vanya realized that he had been trying to clear his throat earlier to get her attention. She couldn't believe that she was thinking this, but he should've practiced something like that.

"Well?" he asked.

"Who?" asked Vanya blankly in return.

"The blonde guy," he said.

Her mind remained blank for a little bit until she suddenly remembered John. Deciding that there was nothing to it she gave Kraken a wink.

"Oh, **him**. He's nothing much, just my date for tomorrow night," she said slyly, "That was the good part I mentioned earlier."

Kraken blinked at her.

"That was fast," he said.

"Well, most of the guys at my college are hippies apparently," she said, shoving her hands in her pockets, "And I'd like roses instead of daisies on my first date if you know what I mean."

"Never given a girl roses, so no," shrugged Kraken.

"Why am I not surprised?" muttered Vanya.

"What?"

"Nothing," she said, "Jen just seems like the kind of girl who'd like flowers from time to time."

"Tough," he said, "I don't give flowers. I don't know what girls see in them."

"They're pretty and it's a sweet gesture," Vanya said as they rounded the street corner, "It shows that the guy cares about the girl."

"Odd metaphor," Kraken said sarcastically, "They wither and die after a few days. Great show of a guy's regard."

"Well if you don't like it," said Vanya testily, "Get potted flowers or something."

"Like that'll ever happen," Kraken said, "But, subject on hand. So, what's his name?"

Her feet moving independently of her mind Vanya wondered how she should phrase her answer. Rather inadvertently she had managed to follow her sister's advice. She shuddered when she thought about it, but that was what had happened. The game was on now and if nothing else she wasn't going to lose.

"John," she said casually.

"John," he repeated, "Do I get a last name?"

"Perseus," she said, wondering if he was going to remember.

Kraken's lips started to move as he said the name to himself a few times. Vanya was just starting to think it wouldn't be so bad until he said darkly;

"Is that that bastard who threw shit at us on the stage?"

"It wasn't **that **much. And really, he's not that bad."

"Vanya!" he snapped, "It nearly fucking hit you!"

"Yeah, and we both know that you immediately broke his jaw and got me sent to France for a year," she said, "So, you know what? I don't think he did the biggest damage in that situation by any means."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth she regretted them.

"I said I was sorry!"

"Yeah, I know-"

"I've said it ten times!" he snapped.

"Look, Diego," she said, trying to stop the situation getting worse, "Stop interrupting for a minute. I'm not mad about that. I'm really not. And I've really gotten over that."

He folded his arms and glared at the ground. He adopted an odd-sulky look that seemed somehow endearing. She had to suppress the urge to kiss him on the forehead (She would have to stand on her tip-toes since she had trouble reaching because he was so tall) to smooth the furrowed brow over.

"I mean, it was three years ago," she said, "Things happen, people change. So I figure it couldn't hurt to at least get dinner out of this guy. You know?"

Kraken sneered as they reached the manor.

"Just don't expect me to talk to him."

A slight thrill rippled through her, though she quickly silenced it. It wasn't possible for him to be getting jealous…

"I talked to Jen," she said, refraining from spitting out her name.

"That's different," he said.

"How so?"

He glared at her once before unlocking the gate.

"It just is."


	7. Chapter 7

Kraken stormed moodily back to his room. After his rather decided 'It just is' Vanya hadn't spoken another word. He supposed that she was angry at him, which she had absolutely no right to be in his opinion. Then again, it appeared that she was too stubborn to listen to good advice when she heard it.

"Stupid girl," he muttered as he opened his door, decidedly slamming it behind him.

On his way to his bed he kicked a cardboard box. Its metallic contents clanged and shook before it finally settled back into its spot with the rest. Kraken was something of a pack rat, a habit that Mom complained about often since his room was generally half-filled with dirty clothes and trash. She had often asked him how he could take the smell. In response he'd just shrugged and said that he didn't notice it anymore.

Once he had finished navigating his way through his labyrinth of a room he flopped down on his bed. The springs squeaked loudly and the bed sagged. He'd broken it at least two years ago, but no one had been in his room since to find out such information. That was good, since it was generally inside the mattress that he hid things.

On this occasion he dug inside it for a manila folder labeled JOHN PERSEUS in sloppy block lettering. Well, it had once been manila but months inside the damned mattress had turned it more of a brown color. The older folders in his mattress tended to do the same, and he wondered if perhaps it was something to do with the stuffing.

Ever since the incident at the bar he'd been fairly careful to keep tabs on this individual. Someone with a toss like that and being the heir to a fortune bigger than most countries' budgets in a decade was bound to cause trouble. So for the past three years he had found a few things about this particular individual that weren't as clean cut as his hair. It wasn't anything he could get arrested for, not yet anyway…

"Doesn't know what she's getting herself into," he snarled to no one in particular, "Doesn't take good advice when she hears it…"

Rifling through it he pulled out four pictures, bypassing the rather suspicious figures that 'John-Boy' hung out with. These ones were simply of girls he was with, presumably dating. They were all at the same restaurant, not exactly high-end but not that cheap either. It was called _Wok 'n' Roll_, a pretty good Chinese place from what he'd heard. That was probably the most likely location.

Keeping this in mind he put the folders and shoved it back into his mattress. He wasn't stalking her, something he told himself emphatically. He was looking out for her, and there was a world of difference between that and stalking. Besides, he wasn't going to follow her. Kraken was just going to casually stroll past the window and see how things were going. They might not even be there after all.

That was what he told himself again and again but it sounded hollow even to him. Deep down he knew that if they weren't there he would try the next likely location, then the one after that, and so on and so forth until he finally found him. Again, he tried to justify this. John Perseus was a shady character and he had no desire for Vanya to get mixed up in that sort of thing.

He rolled onto his side. Still, that wasn't true. Well, it was true but at the same time it was a lie. No, he didn't want to see her in any sort of trouble. That wasn't the most predominant reason. The real one was a very selfish reason and one that he would happily go to his grave with before admitting to anyone other than the rock stars on the posters on his bedroom walls.

Restlessly he got up and navigated his way to the mirror. It was time to put in his eye drops, although he doubted that that could do any good. They were supposed to stop further inflammation, and they did dull the pain that he felt daily there, but he doubted that they would bring sight back to that eye. Hell, he would settle for the eye drops making it healthy enough to be operable. After five years though, he didn't have that much hope.

Removing the eye patch he slipped a few squirts of it into the yellow, red, and gray cracked thing. There was no longer any sign of that blue which so predominated the other eye. The blue had dried out very soon after the accident along with the white and the tear ducts. What was left once the moisture was gone was scarcely human.

He didn't remember the hours surrounding the accident. The doctors had insisted that it was due to trauma and shock. Kraken did remember, however, the hours after the accident and the surgery that followed. He'd woken up in his room with a splitting headache and the feeling that his eye was on fire.

Then, without even remembering how it had, he simply knew what happened. He had most likely lost his eye and he knew that he would never be as fast as he was or even as coordinated as he'd been. This had made him hesitant to try and open the other one, unwilling to get up ever again. In the end he had, and been glad of it.

Vanya had been sitting by his hospital bed, her face white and strained. Her eyes were red-rimmed and as he opened his eyes she had just been depositing a tissue next to the bed. He hadn't known it at the time, but she had many reasons to be nervous. The first was that she was in trouble, or would be soon. As soon as she heard that he'd been injured she'd hopped a cab from her boarding school all the way to the City hospital. No one knew she was there yet, not Pogo or Space, not even Hargreeves.

Yet, there she was. He hadn't been expecting her to be there until another few weeks. Just when he was at what was most likely the lowest point in his life, there she was. The best part was that she didn't say anything. She didn't try to give him any false, optimistic slogans to cheer him up. She simply reached out and grasped his large hand with her smaller, paler one.

He'd looked up at her then, just staring. Very carefully she'd lifted his hand until it touched her forehead. Then her other hand clasped it too, and then she sat in silence for nearly an hour with him. Vanya understood that there was nothing she could say, only a gesture of comfort to give. After the first minute of shock he squeezed back so that he could see a tentative smile on her lips.

That had been the start, the absolute quiet that had sprung up between them. It was deeper than any words or anything he'd ever experienced. Then Hargreeves had come in the next morning, absolutely furious at her for leaving school with no notice to anyone and without his permission.

"Stop it," Kraken growled at his reflection.

Snapping the eye patch back on his eye he continued to stare at his reflection.

"Just stop it," he growled again.

The reflection said nothing in return as he stormed back to his bed. There was nothing left to discuss, nothing left to ponder, nothing left to even think about. He'd gone over this with himself a hundred times in the past year. Kraken had made his decision and he had acted quickly. He reminded himself of this fact as he lay down for the night.

He also reminded himself to go by the restaurant tomorrow, a rather interesting contradiction.


	8. Chapter 8

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Horror nervously.

"Positive," Vanya said, putting the finishing touches on her make-up.

She had known that it was going to be a good day when she woke up. Hargreeves had announced that there was a situation in Bosnia, both diplomatic and superhero-requiring. That was why he, Spaceboy, and Rumor would be departing in one hour's time. They would be gone for three weeks. Those remaining had to suppress grinning like maniacs at the news. Well, all except Séance who always grinned like a maniac.

Vanya had taken that as a sign that things were going to go great. At least she hoped so anyway. That was the attitude she thought about as she got dressed for the evening in the ever-so-versatile little black dress she kept for such occasions. Soon after she finished there'd been a knock on the door.

She'd answered it to reveal a rather nerve-wracked Horror who'd heard from Kraken that she'd had a date. Needless to say, explanations ensued. Horror had then, with a panic that only the truly good-natured could get, voiced his objections rather shrilly. Vanya had listened to them all patiently and was now trying to refute them.

"It's just, well, you've always told me not to trust Allison and now you're doing it," he said, still nervous, "I always thought it was alarmist but, but, you always seemed to get off well on it. And like we said earlier it seemed that things could go horribly wrong with what she said. And with things going the way they are…"

Sighing Vanya put down her mascara.

"Ben, I'm starting to wish I hadn't told you," she said, "And not for the reason you think. You're a good guy and you worry about people, maybe a little too much."

"I can't help it," he fidgeted.

"I know, which is what makes you a good guy," replied Vanya, turning to face him and giving a small smile, "But I've thought about this. At first I figured I was doing this as a jealousy prompter, and that's still a reason. But…if that doesn't work…having a boyfriend will definitely take my mind off things."

She picked up her brush and went through her hair one more time.

"I can't be chasing after Diego, not right now anyway," she said bitterly, "So, I'll just have to wait and hope like I've been doing for the last…what was it again…**ten years**. I'm good at that. For now though, well, it's now. Having a boyfriend's a fair to decent distraction, you know?"

"That sounds…well…well-thought out," said Horror miserably.

"Yeah, win-win right?" she said, smiling again.

"Unless he's a jerk or something," Horror said.

"I carry mace," Vanya shrugged.

"He could just make the situation worse though!" wailed Horror, "Lies and intrigue on top of lies and intrigue-"

Rubbing her temples Vanya placed a hand on Horror's shoulder.

"Listen, if I come back in tears then you can say I told you so," she soothed.

He looked up at her with his puppy-dog eyes.

"I don't think I'll want to."

Four hours later she had figured one very important thing out; listen to Horror. As things turned out she found that he'd been right about, well, everything. She should've listened to him, she really should've. However, she'd been upset and bitter and trying to move on. That was probably no excuse for her being a total shithead though.

The evening had started out fine. From the bar they'd gone to a Chinese restaurant she'd never been to before, called _Wok 'n' Roll_. Vanya had been planning on going Dutch, but John had insisted on paying himself before they'd even ordered. He'd then pointed out several expensive dishes since apparently he was a regular. (It was a cheesy gesture but it did smack of a fair to decent first date.)

Conversation had been rather on the light side. It was fare that Vanya had come to associate with first dates, so nothing out of the ordinary. They talked about movies they'd like to see, bands, friends, college, just the usual. (The usual boring stuff. Did he come from a catalog?) By desert they were talking about family, with Vanya avoiding any real specifics.

Of course, he was an only child and from her reading between the lines she could tell that he didn't like his parents. (Poor little rich boy.) That meant that the conversation was over rather quickly, and so was desert because they kept eating it in an attempt to avoid having to actually talk. She was grateful for the bill because then she could try to pay her half again and he could refuse. In the very least it changed the subject.

From there things started to go down rather quickly. It had started rather innocently, just an observation that it looked like it was going to rain out. Vanya hadn't brought a jacket, much less an umbrella (Ha, ha, ha) so it appeared that this could be a real problem for her. The manor was rather a good distance away and cabs were hard to hail at this time of the night.

She hadn't voiced her concerns to her date of course. Accepting car rides wasn't something she did on a first date. Somehow or another though, he'd at least gotten a clue of what she was thinking.

"You know, I can just call a car from my home," he'd said.

"That's sweet," she'd replied, "But I don't like accepting favors like that on a first date. One of my little 'first date rules', if you know what I mean."

"It wouldn't be a favor," he'd said, leaning in a little more, "If I got something in return."

Vanya could've hit something. Of course, of course things would turn out this way. While he wasn't too specific, his leer told her all she needed to know. Still, this wasn't too uncommon. She had run into this kind of situation before, and had always rather handily extricated herself out of it.

"Like I said," she'd answered, surprised at how level her voice remained, "First date rules. One of the things you don't do."

In hindsight perhaps she shouldn't have said it with the 'so there' tone. However, she hadn't been thinking about that. He'd looked like quite the polished little rich boy and she hadn't expected the words that came next;

"Excuse me?"

"Did you somehow not hear that?" she said, her usual response.

"No, apparently I heard right," he'd answered coolly.

The conversation went downhill from there. For the first few minutes the only thought in her head was that there was **definitely **not going to be a second date. When she tried to walk away though and he grabbed her arm, that was when she started to get just a little scared.

"Let, the fuck go," she said, knowing that there'd be bruises soon.

"And if I say no?"

That had her thinking about the mace in her pocket. In fact, she had already gotten her free hand wrapped around it. Vanya turned, calculating the amount of blowback she could expect and where the best place would be to aim for. Just when she was about to take it out the very last thing she'd expected to happen occurred.


	9. Chapter 9

"You know," Jen said, pulling his arm a little closer, "It's nice of you to offer to walk me home."

"No problem," grunted Kraken.

In all honesty he hadn't actually asked her. What had happened was that he'd mentioned he needed to cut out little earlier than usual. She'd asked him where he was going and then exclaimed that it was near her house. After that, like many things with Jen, things had taken a decided course.

He snorted quietly to himself. Like he'd ever walk a girl home, especially when home happened to be only four blocks away through a safe area of town. If she lived in the part of town where there were muggers around every corner, then he might consider it. As things were though, she lived in the part of town where kids carried balloons and played hopscotch in the streets. He was pretty sure that there were puppies there too.

Still, it wasn't like he could shake her off anytime soon. Fortunately enough a way to her home was past _Wok 'n' Roll _so he could just take a choice peek in there. The fact that the restaurant was in a good area of town should have comforted him some. If anything else than he shouldn't have felt the need to go off and see how Vanya was doing. From his experience though, dates could get out of hand anywhere.

Kraken was fairly sure that they would be there. If not then he would have to check the other usual places, which he had a map to in his pocket. Failure wasn't exactly an option on this. Once more he had to remind himself that this wasn't spying; it was a completely different thing even if it felt and was a good deal like spying.

He was still trying to rationalize his actions when he heard Jen say;

"Oh, isn't that your sister?"

Kraken's head shot up. Vanya was outside the restaurant, arguing with someone he clearly recognized as John Perseus. His free hand clenched and slowly but surely he started to disentangle himself from Jen. By the time that Vanya had tried to walk away and John had grabbed her arm, Kraken was just saying;

"If you'll excuse me."

His original plan had just been to go over there and interrupt the conversation with false friendliness. While he did this he'd look a little menacing and perhaps loom. Kraken was very good at looming. The next part was to quietly usher Vanya out of there, take Jen home preferably with Vanya with him, and then go back to the house.

Things changed slightly when John grabbed her arm though. For one thing, instead of walking over there like he'd planned, he barreled over. Then, instead of simply looking threatening like he'd planned, he socked the guy across the jaw. As he made contact he vaguely wondered if he'd broken the damn thing again.

.

.

.

Slow motion. That was how Vanya saw events play out. It all moved so slow that she could drink in every detail. She was looking at his bruising fingers one moment, noticing that his fingernails had undergone a manicure recently. Her eyes then went to the space between his eyes (Which was far too large.), which was a good target.

Then, very slowly, a hand travelled across his face, knocking him down. She was in a good position to observe said hand. It was calloused, and there was a fingerless leather glove surrounding it. The nails were unkempt, cut sloppily. Vanya knew it. Normally she saw it hitting people around her and opening windows, so it was very, very familiar.

After that things sped up. John let go of her arm and fell to the floor. Kraken placed one very solid kick to his back. There was a groan and a few patrons of the restaurant started to come out. Unaware of the bystanders, or perhaps because there **were **bystanders, he kicked him again to make the humiliation complete.

"Don't you touch her," he snarled.

He got another groan in response. Satisfied, Kraken looked up.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

Vanya stared at him. Ever since things had slowed down she heard her own thoughts wailing in the back of her mind. It wasn't like the event here was a small thing, not by any means so neither were her thoughts. It had been building, little by little, until this very moment. Now it all exploded on her, practically engulfing her and dragging her into the depths.

She was never going to get away. She was going to be chained to him all her life. There had been a time where this was something she had dreamed about. However, it wasn't going to be like that dream. It would be her, desperately trying to get over him, and then things being ruined. Perhaps it wouldn't be by him in the future, but it would be ruined.

Even if John had turned out to be a great guy it would've been ruined. It would be ruined by the fact that Kraken would always be in the back of her mind. That had come to her with the comparison of his hands and the thousand secret ways she had been comparing John to him during the date. Normally she liked it when the guy paid. She thought it was a sincere gesture if they'd asked her out. Yet, it seemed cheesy since it was like roses.

That wasn't her opinion. It was Kraken's. The rest of her life would be spent making these little comparisons. She wasn't sure how she knew that it would always be like this. It might've been the sinking feeling in her stomach, the nausea, the headache, the **heartache**. Perhaps it would be because she just instinctively knew.

Vanya didn't want that, not by any means. She didn't want to be imprisoned by this, but she'd let it happen to her. It was a trap that she'd fallen in with no means to extricate herself. Much of this was her fault but she wasn't the only one to blame. So when Kraken asked her that question she simply answered;

"I hate you. I hate you so fucking much."

Without another word she took off down the street. She wasn't a particularly fast runner, and she knew that if he hurried he could catch her despite her head start. Vanya ignored this though, refusing to acknowledge that she couldn't just keep running forever. To her surprise it seemed like she would be able to.

The rain came and she ran on. She lost her shoes and still she ran on over the pavement. Her make-up was running, she cut through traffic, people were staring at her, but it didn't matter. She needed to get away, as far away as possible. Yet, something in her brain was still rational. That was why she made it to the manor, the only place she had. Once there she'd rung the doorbell, aware that she hadn't brought her keys.

Horror opened the door. He looked like he'd been having a peaceful night. How she envied him. When he saw who it was at the door though, all serenity slipped off. She pushed past him and into the living room, for the first time realizing how cold and wet she was. Horror followed her quickly.

"What happened?" he exclaimed.

Without a word Vanya hugged him tightly. Then she let the tears that the rain had replaced flow down her face. Seconds later the tears turned to full out sobbing. Horror didn't ask her any questions after that. They didn't actually say a word. He just let her cry, rubbing her back comfortingly every now and then.


	10. Chapter 10

Kraken stared after Vanya as she ran away. He was beyond shocked, beyond the point where he could even run after her or split before the cops came. He just stood there, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. When he realized that his brain just wasn't up to the task he decided that he'd find out from the girl herself.

"What was that about?" asked Jen as she came up behind him.

He swore inside, which was mildly tame since he was just getting ready to go after her. Thoroughly irritated he snapped out;

"I have no fucking clue, alright?"

"Geez," she said, sounding disdainful, "Okay, okay, not something you want to get into. Well, come on."

There was a pause as his brain tried to digest this information.

"Where?"

"You were walking me home, **remember**?" she said, putting particular force on the last word, "I mean, I know things got messed-up there with your sister, but you couldn't have forgotten it that soon."

In his experience Kraken had found out that many crimes weren't intentional. Many of them were founded in stress and done on the spur of the moment. He had never really understood how a person could let something like that happen though. Control was something that he prided himself on, so he'd never given it much thought. Now though, now he understood completely. Now he could fucking **sympathize**.

However, he did not commit a crime. No, that would only be caused by a complete lack of control and he still had some. So what he did next was the closest thing he could do.

"You know what?" he said harshly, "I don't know how to politely break-up with someone, never gave it a try, so I'm going to have to do this the blunt way. You were a fucking mistake. You irritate the hell out of me, your nickname made me sick, and I never want to see you again. That good enough for ya?"

Jen stared at him, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide.

"I…I…I…" she sputtered.

"Yeah, I thought it would be," he said.

Swiveling away from her he darted down the street. Soon it started raining, but he was used to running in the rain. He found a shoe on the sidewalk as he continued, which worried him. Vanya wasn't a runner, but if she had left a shoe behind that meant serious business. He continued on before reaching the Hargreeves manor, hoping that she was there and in the mood for a talk.

.

.

.

"Let's just calm down," Horror said after a few minutes, "Alright?"

There had been a lapse in Vanya's sobs, so he figured it was a good time to suggest a bit of a break. She gave him a small nod and he gently guided her to the couch. Vanya sat down weakly, not bothering to wipe away her tears. To him, and this was a rather biased opinion since Horror was such an optimist, she looked like a mess.

As inconspicuously as possible he looked down at her feet. They were scratched up but so far they hadn't started to bleed much. There was at least that to be thankful for. On the other hand, she was barefoot in the first place and he distinctly remembered her wearing shoes. That couldn't be good.

He picked up a glass of water from the coffee table and offered it to her. Horror thanked his lucky stars that all of the soda, juice, milk, and coffee had been mixed into the giant punch bowl earlier that evening by Séance in an attempt to make 'the ultimate drink'. Well, not so much thanked as saw the reason for, since he wouldn't have had water otherwise. By the time he and Pogo had gotten down there it was a mess, but again with the reason.

She half snatched it out of his hands and started gulping it down. When she finished he could see that she was still thirsty, but she'd probably get sick if she had more. Vanya looked at him before sighing.

"Sorry I ruined your sweater," she said.

Horror looked down and shrugged.

"Just mascara, lipstick, and water," he said, remembering how everything had been running, "Nothing that won't come out. At least it cleaned up your face."

Not even the corners of her mouth twitched. She just stared miserably at the floor.

"Hey hey," he said, hugging her, "Can't be that bad."

"You weren't there," she said, sniffling again.

Vanya leaned her head onto his shirt, seemingly grateful for something to lean on.

"Just tell me about it, alright?" he asked soothingly.

Looking up at him she opened her mouth, as if to speak. Then the front door opened.

.

.

.

Kraken walked inside and stopped dead. Both Horror and Vanya were looking at him. He felt an odd surge of anger and oddly enough, jealousy. Inside he knew that it was unjustified, because it was Horror of all people. Even so, if anyone should've been comforting her after the events of the night, it should've been **him**.

There was very little time for him to contemplate this though. The next thing he knew Vanya had scrambled from her place on the couch and bolted up the stairs. He started after her, only to be stopped by a slimy tentacle. Furiously he looked at Horror, who to his surprise didn't flinch under his glare.

"What did you do?" asked Horror, his voice trembling, "She was nearly fine!"

Looking away from Horror he saw that Vanya had already reached the top of the stairs. Seconds later there was a loud slam as the door to her room shut. Kraken growled. He could've reached her if Horror hadn't interfered.

"Don't interfere in things you don't know shit about!" he snapped at Horror before running outside again.

Using his drainpipe of choice he scaled the wall. There was still some time to figure out what was going on. It took him very little time to get up to the second story and even less to get to the appropriate window. Just as he was about to lift the sill Vanya's hand shot out on the other side. In one swift movement she locked it and drew the curtains.

He stared at the glass as the rain beat down on it. The anger that had been building was leeching away and giving in to something cold. No matter how bad things had gotten between them she had always left the window open. The latch had never really been locked, he'd only ever asked out of courtesy. It was never **ever** locked, and Vanya had just locked it.


	11. Chapter 11

One of the first things Vanya had done when she took refuge in her room, after blockading it, was smash the clock. She hadn't done it for any symbolic purposes, it was just unfortunately close. The next thing to go was her backpack, tearing up all the papers inside it. Vanya would've smashed more if she hadn't suddenly started to feel weak.

With no more appetite for destruction she had made her way into her room's adjoining bathroom. She had taken a hot shower, since she was very cold, and changed into her flannel pajamas. Then she had proceeded to her bed. Once there she flung herself down and started up a new bout of crying, feeling even more pathetic.

Eventually she ended up crying herself to sleep. Hours passed until she woke up. Her alarm clock hadn't woken her up, and it took her a minute to figure out why. When she remembered she started crying a little more. Shortly after she finished she banged her head against her headboard, ashamed of her tears.

After that she resolved to get angry, no, to get furious. Vanya hadn't cried anywhere near this much since she was eleven. How could she break that record? She'd thought that she was getting better. Of course, she hadn't counted on her heart getting broken and then making a mess of the situations. Not to mention getting angry wasn't easy and it was exhausting.

This led her to another few hours of sleep. When she woke up again she brushed her teeth and took care of other necessities, since there was some practicality left in her. Then she drank as much water as possible because dehydration was setting in. Laying back down on her bed she started to think about her next step.

She couldn't go back out there, and she couldn't stay in her room. Well, she could stay in her room. However, it just wasn't practical and she'd probably die of either boredom or something similar. Vanya figured that her only option was to go back to college. There were summer courses that would be starting up. The deadline to sign up was in a few days, so she had time. That took care of summer. By Christmas she'd either have figured something out or would stay home.

Depressingly satisfied with running away she planned the remaining time until she could get away. She needed food. At first she'd only wanted water but now she was starting to get hungry. Cautiously she unlocked her door and peered out into the hallway. It was dark, and that worried her a little. Perhaps she hadn't slept as long as she thought she had. At least it wasn't raining anymore, which was a plus.

Grabbing her bathrobe she made her way down to the kitchen. Too late she realized she should've grabbed her slippers too, since the tile felt like ice on her feet. Vanya shook it off. It wasn't like she was going to be staying there for very long. She was just down there long enough to get a snack and then leave.

No sooner had she opened the refrigerator though than she heard;

"Hey!"

Letting out a shriek of surprise she slammed the refrigerator door shut. Seconds later the light came on and she saw Horror standing there looking blank.

"Just me," he said pitifully.

"Sorry," she said, breathing slow and deep, "You just…well…you scared the shit out of me."

"No problem," Horror said pleasantly, "I just came down here to see if the muffins were done cooking yet."

Her eyes followed him as he went to the oven. He smiled, pulled on an oven mitt, and took out a tray of steaming muffins. Since she was looking at the oven she couldn't help but see the time.

"You cook muffins at three in the morning?" she asked.

Horror put the tray on the island in the middle of the kitchen. He sat down on one of the chairs, and Vanya followed suit.

"Yeah," he said, "I'll ice 'em when they cool down a bit too."

"You put frosting on muffins?" she asked.

"Klaus won't eat them otherwise," said Horror mournfully, "They're the only thing he eats, but I don't think he knows about the vitamins I put in them so he gets his nutrition. But he won't eat at all if I don't put icing on them. He says that they're a disgrace to the cupcake family if they don't have icing. I tried to tell him that they aren't actually cupcakes, but you know Klaus."

Vanya stared at him.

"That's horrible," she said.

"Actually it doesn't taste that bad, I tried one once-" he started.

"No, you," Vanya said miserably putting her head in her hands, "That's the real horror here. Why the fuck should you have to clean up after us? Huh?"

At first Horror didn't answer. Then he reached across gently and moved her face up. To her surprise he was smiling.

"Someone has to," he said.

"No one should have to," she answered, jerking away.

Horror sighed and got up. He headed over to the refrigerator, pulling out a bowl of icing. Then he got a knife before returning to the island.

"Good to see you're feeling better," he said, starting to frost one, "I was really worried."

"I feel like shit," she snapped, "But I needed to get out."

"Good attitude," said Horror brightly, "Two days was way too long to be in your room."

"Two days!" she cried, "I slept in for **two **days?"

Blinking Horror stopped frosting.

"Yeah?" he ventured.

"Great," she moaned, "Just great."

Horror didn't answer until he had frosted three more.

"What happened?" he asked finally.

In all honesty she didn't want to tell him. However, the point where she didn't have to tell him had passed. So she confessed the story, every detail, everything.

"I understand why you're upset," he said after she had finished, "But, he couldn't possibly have realized why you were. Diego's not that bright and really it seemed like he was doing something good-"

"Yeah, he'll never get it," said Vanya, running her hand through her hair, "Never. That's why I need to get away. I thought I could do this, could deal with this, but I can't. Not at all. So yeah, running away's cowardly, but it's all I can do."

"Think this out," begged Horror, "We'll talk about it tomorrow, okay? I'll even come up to your room so you won't have to leave."

"You won't change my mind," she said, "But, alright."

Shaking her head she started to get up. Horror stopped her.

"Have some muffins," he said, "Frosted or unfrosted, your choice."

"Thanks Ben," she said, taking three since her stomach had started growling, "You're the best of us you know."

She walked out and Horror kept on frosting.

"We-ll that's a sob story if I ever heard one," Séance said, floating in from the other door.

"How long were you listening?" sighed Horror.

"Long enough to know she's got it bad for our resident sociopath," Séance replied at the same time he spied the muffins, "Oooh! Cupcake cousins!"

He shoved one into his mouth whole. Crumbs sprayed out and Horror flinched.

"Hey, you used cream cheese icing!" he exclaimed happily, "The creamiest of cheeses!"

Séance leaned in mischievously.

"For that I shall tell you how to solve emo-sister's oh-so tragic dilemma," he said conspiratorially.

"How could you possibly know how to solve this?" asked Horror skeptically.

"Hah!" cackled Séance as he grabbed another muffin, "I'm the only one wacky enough to be able to see a way out of this fucked-up mess!"

As the muffin disappeared Horror sagged in defeat.

"True."


	12. Chapter 12

"Well, I stand up next to a mountain," Séance sang-along remorselessly, "and I chop it down with the edge of my hand. Well, I pick up all the pieces and make an island, might even raise a little sand. Yeah!"

Kraken shoved his hands over his ears. Three days had passed since he'd last seen Vanya, or had seen much of anyone for that matter. If she could lock herself away in her room, then so could he. Of course, the difference that he was woefully unaware of was that she was upset. He, however, was sulking.

Breaking this sulk soon was beginning to look like a pretty good idea to him though. If he had to listen to Séance grating out Jimmy Hendrix songs for another minute, he'd go insane.

"'Cause I'm a voodoo child!" Séance continued, "Lord knows I'm a voodoo child baby!"

"That. Is. It," growled Kraken, throwing his door open.

He'd made it into the living room before the next verse started up. He then proceeded to rip the power cord out of the large stereo that Séance had nestled comfortably on an armchair. As for the man himself he was floating comfortably near the ceiling rafters. When the music stopped Séance looked around, offended.

"You can't stop the beat!" he wailed.

"I just fucking did," he said, "So why don't you have a little consideration for other people? Huh?"

"Oh, and you have just soooooooo much regard for other people's feelings," snorted Séance, "Which is why, of course, Vanya came home in tears on Wednesday. Yeah, that's some empathy there."

Kraken curled his fingers into a fist and his lip into a sneer.

"You wanna start something voodoo freak?" he snarled.

"End something is more like it," smirked Séance, twirling himself upside down, "Look, someone needs to dissolve all the sexual tension in this situation."

"WHAT?"

"Ben practically faints when he thinks about getting involved," Séance said, "Vanya's too upset, and you're too pissed. You're a moron too, but this means it falls on nutty-mcnuggets to do something. See what's wrong with this picture, hmmmm?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" snapped Kraken.

Séance rolled his eyes.

"Ah-duh. You've got the hots for Vanya, am I right?"

There was a brief silence.

"Don't deny it, an' don't ask how I know," continued Séance, "'cause it's obvious. So, why not do somethin' when she came back from college?"

"I am not going to discuss this with you," Kraken snapped, turning around to go.

Irritated Séance levitated a couch against the exit. He also made some furniture block the stairwell. Kraken whipped around and Séance raised a figure.

"Tell me why," he said, tsking.

"There's nothing to tell."

"I said don't deeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnyyyy it!"

"Shut up!"

"Come on," wheedled Séance, "Tell me, tell me, **TELLME TELLMETELLME**!"

"She's too fucking good for this!" screamed Kraken.

Séance blinked.

"Ah, don't tell me-" he started.

"I have an odd habit," interrupted Kraken furiously, "of ruining every fucking thing I try to do. I'll go, fuck things up when I'm wither her, and she'll never forgive me for it. Just look at me!"

Dutifully Séance did as instructed.

"You are a psycho," he admitted.

"See!"

"Well maybe she** likes** psychos," drawled Séance, "I mean, she's not exactly normal herself. And by the way, that is a piss-poor excuse if she wants you."

"She doesn't!"

"Wednesday says differently," Séance said.

"Listen, nothing would happen even if I could talk to her about this," snapped Kraken, "which I can't, she's locked herself in her room!"

Séance grinned evilly.

"I have a way around that…"

.

.

.

There was a knock at the door. Vanya quickly finished toweling off from her latest shower (They were very calming and she desperately needed to calm down.) and threw on a knee-length silk bathrobe. She opened the door a crack to see Horror standing there nervously.

"I uh, mentioned talking later-" he started.

"Yeah," Vanya said, opening the door.

"Is this a uh, bad time?" he started.

"Everything's a bad time," she said bitterly, going into the adjoining bathroom to clean up.

"Listen, uh, Vanya," he said, "Why don't you tell me exactly what's going on? I mean, it, um, could help."

"Ben," she said, noticing the odd pauses in his voice, "I've told you everything."

"Yeah, but uh, I'm not sure I understood it exactly."

"It's hard to understand unrequited love," Vanya said, trying to keep a snap out of her voice, "Look, for ten years he's done absolutely nothing to encourage me and so I don't know why I keep hoping he'll wake up one day and…oh, argh."

She picked up her hairbrush and ran it through her rapidly drying hair.

"Well, things can change."

Vanya wondered why Ben was being so dense. They'd already had this conversation over and over again.

"No Ben, they can't," she said, "It was easier when I was younger to think that Diego would grow to love me or some shit like that. But that's not how it works, don't you understand? And no matter what I try it just doesn't work! I didn't even like John but I can just see my future relationships going down the drain because they're not with Diego. Do you get it now!"

"Yes," said Horror, his voice sounding strained, "And I hope that you'll either thank or forgive me one day. Preferably thank."

"What the hell are you talking about?" she asked, near-angry as she walked back into her room.

She stopped abruptly, feeling like she was about to throw up. Horror was standing embarrassingly in a corner of the room with Kraken standing next to him.

"I'm just going to leave before I get killed," Horror said miserably, edging out the door. 


	13. Chapter 13

Vanya stood there as the door clicked closed. She didn't want to do that. It made her feel like an idiot and reduced her capacity to think straight. She wanted instead to run after Horror and kill him. No, scratch that, she wanted to hurt him very bad. He was still Horror after all and it would be like kicking an injured puppy. However, she would maim him very, very badly.

She didn't want to be standing there. She wanted to get her tongue to work so that she could laugh off everything she said or explain it all away. Perhaps she could even make it seem like it was a prank. It would be very mean but she'd rather have him think she was a jerk rather than know the truth.

What she really wanted to do was sink into the ground and disappear forever though. Better yet, she would never be born. If she had a time machine that was what she would do, go back and prevent her birth. It wasn't as if her life had been so great anyway, and it would certainly save her standing there, staring at Kraken and having him stare at her.

However, she didn't do any of those things. Either her desired options weren't feasible or she'd missed her chance. So in the end what she did was start to cry. She hadn't eaten very much, she hadn't slept since Horror had told her she'd been out for two days, she was stressed out, and she was scared out of her mind. Everything was ruined forever and there wasn't any harm in just breaking down and crying. Not even if it made her feel weak and stupid like she had since she'd gotten the letter, there was no harm in it anymore.

To her surprise she felt arms wrap around her. It was a tight embrace, so tight that she almost felt crushed. The air rushed out of her lungs in surprise and Vanya quickly gulped some more in. By all means she would've liked to push away but his body felt so warm while all she could do was feel cold.

Finally, when she got over her initial shock, she started to push away. Once more surprisingly she found that Kraken's arms were like iron around her.

"Let go," she demanded in a scratchy voice.

"No."

She choked back tears of helpless sadness and rage.

"Just let go Diego!"

"No."

"Stop it," she said, trying to sound authoritative but in the end sounding faint, "Just stop doing this and leave me alone-"

"Vanya," he said, loosening his grip slightly so he could look at her, "I'm not going to let go. And I'm not going to leave you. Ever."

Vanya tilted back her head so that no more tears could come out.

"Diego," she said, "I appreciate that, I really do. It's…it's really great that you don't care."

"Care about what?" he asked, looking confused.

"What I said," she replied shortly, "but I figured something out. I don't want to wake up every morning wondering if that'll be the day that I see you with some new girl-"

"I broke up with Jen," he interrupted, "So I don't get-"

"It'll be any girl," she said, "It won't matter if it was that fucking princess or not."

He stared at her hard for a minute before raising his eyebrows.

"I don't think we're communicating," he said, "But I think I can fix that."

Suddenly his lips were pressed, demanding, against hers. Vanya stifled a gasp, more out of surprise than anything. He must've heard it since he used is as a way to slip his tongue through her lips. She couldn't respond, not even when his tongue started stroking hers. Vanya was vaguely aware that she had gone limp, but beyond that she wasn't quite sure.

Kraken withdrew, somewhat mindful of her need to breath. She snapped to attention then.

"Diego…"

The name came out more of a moan then a word. Vanya bit her lip and tried to speak slightly more coherently.

"Don't do this out of pity, alright?" she said, her voice now becoming snappish, "Don't you dare do that you fucking bastard."

Rolling his eyes Kraken leaned in until his lips were brushing against her ear. She could feel his breath against her skin and she had to bite back another moan.

"I'm still not getting through to you," he murmured, "So here's it spelt out. I want you, in every fucking sense of the word. I want to see you with me and not with some fancy-ass pretty boy. I want to say I love you and hear it back and I'm tired of not having that. I thought I could get by without it but now that I know you want it too I can't even live without it. I'll be damned for wanting you, I know, but right now I couldn't care less. Make sense?"

She was crying again now. Her hands had gotten some rigidity back and her arms wrapped around his neck.

"Well…here you go," she said, swallowing, "I love you, have since I was ten."

He smirked at her.

"Sorry that it's only been from fifteen for me," he said, "I'll just have to make up for that, won't I?"

He swooped in for another one knee-shaking kiss. She warbled a little bit, and the next thing she knew he'd picked her up bridal-style. Before she could even begin to think what that meant he'd laid her on her bed. Once he'd laid her down he looked up at her, both desire and love raging in his eyes.

The next minute he'd dipped his head and started laying kisses along her collarbone. When his hands started to untie her bathrobe though, she stopped him nervously. Kraken looked up at her in surprise. Her throat felt dry as she stammered over her next few words.

"I've…I've never done this before," she managed.

He looked at her understandingly and laughed.

"You know what?" he asked, "Kinda relieved at that information. But you're right, this is moving too fast so-"

She shook her head. Now he was the one not getting the message and she was the one getting frustrated.

"Look…I'm not saying I don't want too…I'm just…I guess explaining," she started.

He silenced her with a light kiss on her lips before grinning and saying;

"No need to."


	14. Chapter 14

"So, happy ending right?" asked Body.

Vanya laughed and leaned back in her chair. It was two nights later back at Norton's and Vanya was feeling the better than she had in years.

"Looks like," she grinned.

"One thing I don't get though," he said, "if you don't mind me asking, is if he's been into you for this long, and he obviously has by everyone's account, why the hell with Jennifer of all people?"

"You know," said Vanya, "I asked him that myself. You're not going to believe the fucking answer."

"Try me."

"He wanted a girlfriend by the time I came back from college," she said, rolling her eyes since she still couldn't believe the stupidity of the act, "So that, since he thought that I would turn him down flat, he wouldn't be tempted to ask me out."

Body stared at her for a moment.

"That is a bullshit reason."

"Same here," said Vanya, "She was the first one he came across and bang! We've got gigglin' Jen to put up with."

"Gigglin' Jen," mused Body, "Nice name for her. But he was a fucking moron if he thought that that would help."

"With you there."

"I mean, if he'd just had the brass to ask," Body said, "Then I wouldn't have had to listen to that giggle for weeks. I swear it was getting stuck in my brain and resurfacing in my nightmares."

They both laughed at that. Body then took a swig of his beer, while Vanya tapped her coke. She had no reason to drink that night.

"So, where's he tonight?" he asked once he'd finished.

"On call with everyone else," she said, "Life's busy when you're a superhero, you know?"

"Not that I know from personal experience," said Body, "But yes, I'd imagine that it has odd hours. Hey, got some news for you."

"What?"

"Got hired by the local police force?"

"You fucking serious?"

"After all the years I've been trying to get in, do you think that I'd joke about something like that?" asked Body, "Nah. They got an opening and my resume had been improving over the years."

"Well," Vanya said, "Your next drink's on me you lucky sonuvabitch."

"I'm running a little low, so maybe that would be good for now?" he asked.

Laughing Vanya got up and headed towards the bar. She ordered it and another soda for herself. As the bar tender turned to go and fill the order she closed her eyes for a moment. Sounds of the band, which was shit, filled her ears but she couldn't care less. This week was far too good for anything to ruin it-

"Excuse me?"

Except that. Vanya cursed, opened her eyes, and turned to see Jennifer standing next to her. She looked rather upset from the way her too-much-mascara was running.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked tearfully.

Inwardly groaning Vanya searched for a reason to push her off. In the end she couldn't come up with one without looking like a total bitch or, worse yet, Rumor. So she said;

"Yeah, let me just-" she started.

"It won't take long at all," Jennifer said earnestly.

Sighing Vanya turned to the bartender.

"Could you hold those for me for a minute?" she asked.

He nodded and Vanya reluctantly allowed Jennifer to lead her off to a rather more private corner of the bar. No one was there, except for the druggies who were so high that they really didn't count as anybody.

"What's wrong?" asked Vanya.

"It's Diego," she sniffed.

Warning bells went off in her brain. It wasn't as if Vanya had ever thought that having girl talk with her boyfriend's ex would be fun. However, talking about problems with said person was a different matter, especially if it would be awkward to explain that you were the new girl.

"I thought you two broke up," she heard herself say.

"I know!" moaned Jennifer, "It's the first time a guy's ever broken up with me!"

"Really?" Vanya asked before she could stop herself.

"Yes!" said Jennifer emphatically, "So I don't know why this is happening. I mean, it's not fair! No one' allowed to treat me this way."

Jennifer's behavior started to become more and more erratic. Nervously Vanya said;

"Look, break-ups happen-"

"To other people," finished Jennifer, "I wasn't brought up to be treated this way you know!"

_Your parents and Hargreeves should get together and go bowling sometime_, thought Vanya, _It'll be educational_.

What she said instead was;

"There's a first time for everything. Maybe he's just not interested?"

Something in Jennifer's eyes flashed.

"Do you know something?"

"What?"

"About what happened," snapped Jennifer, "Obviously you do. Let me guess, he was chasing after some slut. Who?"

Taking offence at being indirectly called a slut she said coolly;

"That's none of your business anymore."

"Why won't you tell me?" she insisted.

"Like I said, it's not your business anymore," repeated Vanya as she started to edge past the other woman.

Quick as a flash Jennifer's arm moved. Vanya felt a sharp pain in her neck before she fell to the floor. Looking around to make sure that no one but the druggies were watching Jennifer pulled the needle out of Vanya's neck. She put it in her pocket quickly before going to the bar and picking out a likely victim.

"Excuse me?" she asked in a voice that would melt butter.

The man turned around and smiled at her. She smiled back before gesturing helplessly to Vanya.

"My friend had a little much, and I'm really just not strong enough to get her back to the car," she said helplessly.

"No problem," he said, "In exchange for a phone number of course."

Jennifer batted her eyelashes.

"Of course. Anything."

With the man's help Jennifer managed to get Vanya to the car. She buckled her in, gave the man a false phone number and got into the driver's seat. The drug would wear off after a few hours, so she wouldn't have to worry about her waking up. Jennifer smiled as she drove away. That had been a lot more fun than last time.


	15. Chapter 15

"Hey Body," said Kraken as he slid down into the empty seat opposite the chimp.

"Yeah," Body answered distractedly, looking over the heads of other patrons.

"Something wrong?" frowned Kraken.

"You tell me," said Body, "On your way in, you didn't happen to see Vanya by the bar did you?"

"No, why?"

"Well, she went up there about fifteen minutes ago to get drinks," replied Body, "It's really crowded tonight so at first I thought it was just something to do with that, but fifteen minutes is far too long to be waiting."

Kraken immediately got up and started scanning the crowds.

"Of course," suggested Body, "she might just be in the bathroom or something."

This was a rather plausible explanation. Kraken, however, had not survived for as long as he had on at the Umbrella Academy to accept plausible explanations.

"Doesn't feel right," he grunted.

"Little early in the relationship to be getting suspicious of each other, isn't it?" Body asked, raising his eyebrows.

"I'm not suspicious," Kraken snapped, "I'm just worried. There's a huge fucking difference between the two you know."

Body shook his head but remained silent. Ignoring the gesture Kraken got up and walked over to the bar carefully. Although it was crowded he could still see a trail of footprints from size nine shoes in the dirt on the floor. It was a hard skill to see such things, and something he was proud of being able to do.

He followed them to a small spot near the bar's corner. From there they moved slightly over to the druggie corner. Kraken frowned when he saw that, since it was Séance's thing and not Vanya's to be doing drugs. His frown only deepened when he saw that another pair of footprints was near the first. These were size three, so another girl or just a rather unlucky guy.

Kraken racked his head for any girls Vanya would know whose feet would be so fucking small. Generally their friends bragged about having odd shoe sizes. Or, if they didn't, then they would buy shoes much too big for them so they could clump about in them. It wasn't fashionable in Norton's to have little delicate feet. The style didn't fit the image anyone they knew were trying to portray, not at all.

Something about that tickled his memory; someone not fitting the image. He filed it away for future reference, since he had long since learned to trust his instincts. Turning his eyes back to the floor he saw that some of the footprints had been scuffed. Then the smaller pair of feet had wandered off to the bar, and then returned with a size twelve, definitely a guy.

His eyes narrowed and drifted over to the bar. A man was drinking there, but Kraken wasn't looking at his face. He was looking at his shoes. They were size twelve. With angry and deliberate motions he walked over to him and took his knife out. For a minute he lingered at the bar counter. Then, with a great deal of force, he drove it into the table.

Both the man and the bartender jumped. The bartender, seeing who it was, quickly said;

"Now no killin' anyone Diego."

After saying his piece the bartender scurried off to the other side of the serving area. The other man tried to follow suit but Kraken grabbed him by the back of his collar.

"Look man," he said, his words slightly slurred, "I didn't do nothing to you-"

"I'll figure that out in a minute," snarled Kraken, "But first I wanna know somethin'."

"Anything."

"Did you see a girl earlier?"

"Seen alotta girls if you know what I mean," grinned the man uneasily.

In response Kraken slammed his head into the counter. Other bar patrons started forward to help, saw it was Kraken, then went back to their drinks.

"Uh, earlier there were these uh, two girls," he said, trying to staunch the blood from his nose, "One was kinda wasted so I helped her to her friend's car."

"Vanya doesn't drink."

"I don't, uh, know who that is."

This comment got his head slammed into counter again.

"Did she have short dark-brown hair?" demanded Kraken, "It's almost black. She's probably wearing a black leather jacket and leggings. Now, spill!"

"Yeah, that was her," said the man miserably.

"What did the other one look like?"

"Real hot man," the man said, "Like, blonde, you know? Long hair, real awesome curves, dresses like she's from a catalog-"

"Fuck," Kraken said.

He had gotten an inkling in the past that Jennifer was somewhat psycho, but not to this level. He didn't feel particularly worried since he couldn't imagine her hurting anyone. She'd probably be too worried about staining her clothes. However, he'd never thought she'd kidnap anyone either and he wasn't about to take his chances when Vanya was involved.

"What type of car?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Huh?"

"This girl's got a couple of cars," snapped Kraken, "Silver Porsche, blue Mercedes, red Corvette-"

"Red Corvette, I think."

"You'd better be damned sure!"

"I'm sure! I'm sure!" the man squealed.

Disgusted Kraken slammed his face down again for good measure. Then he tore out of the bar, racking his brains for places they could be.


	16. Chapter 16

When Vanya woke up, she didn't open her eyes immediately. Possibly this was because she wasn't quite sure if she was awake due to the fuzziness of her mind. What she did know, however, was;

"God my head hurts," Vanya mumbled to herself.

"Really?" asked Jennifer, interested, "I mean, yeah usually the head does hurt, that's usually where I smack them with something or I've put something in their drink so they get a huuuuuuuge headache. I got you in the neck so I thought it would be different though."

Her eyes wrenched themselves open. Jennifer was sitting on a table across from Vanya, legs crossed and smoking a cigarette. She bore an artificial, cheap smile and the look in her eyes was playful.

"So, I'm guessing that wasn't just a really bizarre dream then," Vanya said slowly.

"Nope," she answered cheerfully, extinguishing the cigarette and sliding down the table, "I've heard that one a lot too, believe me."

"Wait a minute," Vanya said, still trying to blink her mind back in order, "You've done this before?"

"Oh, you don't even know what I'm going to do," said Jennifer, sticking out her bottom lip.

"I can guess," Vanya replied drily, flickering her eyes around the room to see the scalpels and video recording material, "So answer the fucking question."

"Bad language," frowned Jennifer, "Is that bravado?"

It was. Vanya had never been in a situation like this before and she was finding that her mouth was running itself.

"I asked you first."

"Nice one. And I've done this, ohhh tons of times," she said, turning her back to Vanya and examining a tray she'd put on the table.

"Let me get this straight," Vanya said, trying to draw herself up but finding her body unusually uncooperative, "You just randomly kidnap girls-"

"Not just girls," corrected Jennifer, "and not just randomly. I'm not **sexist **you know. I do it to guys too. The ones that have been cheating on me, the ones that I suspect of cheating on me, things like that. Girls is only if they know something I want to know or if they've been making eyes at my man. You know how it is."

"Actually I have no fucking clue."

Jennifer sighed and turned around.

"I mistook you for one of the smarter ones," she said, "You really should've told me what I wanted back at the bar. Then I wouldn't have to do this."

She stopped for a minute.

"Actually I probably would've anyway," she said, "I mean I've never been able to use the fancy drugs before."

"Surprised you haven't been committed yet."

"Oh, I manage to hush up my victims fairly well," Jennifer said cheerfully, "See the big plastic tub in the corner?"

"Yeah," said Vanya, struggling to remain calm.

"It's full of an acid called…called…well, I can't pronounce it," she said, "But it dissolves bodies and that generally does the trick after I'm done. I mean, nothing left right?"

"You really do your research."

"Oh, oh yes I do!" she said proudly, "And even if someone does trace it back to me can you really imagine the police believing I committed a crime?

She turned, pushed out her lower lip, and made her eyes go big.

"See?" she asked, her face turning to normal before returning to the table, "Now we can do this the hard way-"

Jennifer turned around with a couple of nails and a hammer in one hand.

"-or the easy way," she said, brandishing a gun with the other hand.

Taking a few steps closer she smiled again.

"Hard way involves you staying quiet, hah, I tell a lie because you'll be screaming soon enough, and then me taking these here nails and driving them through your collarbones," she said, "I'll see what I feel like after that, and eventually you go in the acid. The easy way involves you telling me everything, then me being the merciful and wonderful person I am, putting a bullet through your brain and then in the acid. So, which way?"

There was a moment's pause as Vanya considered her options.

"Can I ask you one thing beforehand?" she said.

"Just one," replied Jennifer sweetly.

"Were you in love with him?"

The question apparently took Jennifer by shock. It hadn't been an easy question for Vanya to ask, but she was trying to understand and to, of course, stall.

"That's a really silly question," said Jennifer, "Of course not. I mean handsome, yeah and all, but it was just kinda exotic. Then he ditched me and it was humiliating! Can you imagine being broken up with in a public place!"

Vanya's eyes closed and she gritted her teeth. Yeah, she might not be able to move and she was most likely in for a shitload of pain. . However, the psycho bitch was long past due on getting the trash talk of her fucking life.

"You know nothing about humiliation," she said, "You know nothing about anything, do you? You're just a selfish bitch who wants to have her cake and eat it too only her cake doesn't really belong to her. Hell, she doesn't even **want **the fucking cake. You need help, you need a lot of help but I hope you don't get any. I hope you go to prison for life and get the shit kicked out of you by someone. I mean, are you for real? Are you even a person? Or are you just the Torturer Barbie Deluxe kit?"

Jennifer's jaw tightened. With great care she laid the gun on the table.

"We could've done this easily."

"I fucking doubt that," she spat, "You'd probably just torture me after I told you you deranged psycho bitch."

"Yeah, probably."


	17. Chapter 17

Kraken was getting worried. No, he was getting fucking frantic. He'd already had Horror tap every security camera in the City back at the manor and he'd come up with nothing. There had been no police reports from what Lupo had said. It appeared that no one had even sighted anyone looking **remotely** like Jennifer in the last three hours.

At first both Horror and Lupo had been skeptical. They had shared Body's attitude that this might not be what it seemed. As time dragged on though and Vanya failed to appear either at Norton's or the manor they started to get concerned. Now they had thrown themselves into it as hard as they could without alerting Hargreeves.

As he rode his motorcycle through the street he kept trying to think of what might've happened. By no means was he the sharpest tool in the shed, he might even be outdoors. He should've been able to figure this out by this time though. It was a fucked-up situation and something might've happened to Vanya killed because he couldn't think fast enough.

Once more he went through his mind and looked at his options for the eight millionth time. He'd already driven past Jennifer's home and searched the place to find it empty. He then checked her usual haunts, only to find them devoid of her as well. So, it was some place that she hadn't been before. Great. Fucking fantastic.

Something niggled in the back of his brain. He paid close attention to it, since feelings like that were as important as hunches and instincts. There was one place he'd seen her in that he hadn't checked. Then again, it was pretty much abandoned. The only reason it had been full at the time was because it was the home of a one night underground concert.

Kraken groaned. Now that he thought of it the fucking irony was probably too much for her to resist. From what he knew of her she was just too cliché. It had been where he'd met and asked her out for the first time, and its remote uninhabited location probably made it ideal for…for…for.

For. He was leaving it there. He didn't know what Jennifer was capable of, and he wasn't going to find out. Quickly he switched his ear radio on and waited until Lupo picked up the signal.

"Hey," he growled, "Think I know where she is."

.

.

.

"You know," Jennifer said dreamily, "I met him here, right? The band was The Skuzz and they sounded like cats being tortured."

She smiled.

"I like cats being tortured."

With great care Jennifer laid her hand on Vanya's head.

"Human screams are better of course," she said, "And you're screaming a great deal. I think that the lack of bonds makes the psychological pain worse. What do you think?"

"Fuck…you…"

Jennifer took her hand off of Vanya's head and withdrew to survey her work. The nails had been put into her collarbones but it hadn't stopped there. She had been careful to take Vanya's jacket off beforehand, so that she could see her arms better. It was so fortunate that she had been wearing a black tank-top that day.

There were numerous other lacerations, burns, and breaks. Jennifer had hence spared her hands, since she heard that she played the violin and that was probably torture best saved for last, and done her toes instead. After that she had concentrated on the feet and leg bones. Candle wax burns were a favorite for her, as was acid. Still, she hadn't talked.

"You're disappointing," she said, "Come on, this girl isn't worth protecting."

"Already fucked…myself…over from…talking to you…earlier…not going to…bother to…do it…again."

Yeah, the burns on her lips were probably making speech hard. To Jennifer it didn't make much sense. She sighed.

"I've actually exhausted my ideas on you," she said, walking back to the table and taking off some blood-stained gloves, "I've never done that before. I should do it more often, you know?"

This time there was no response.

"I'm going to have to find out another way," she sighed again, "Which is difficult. I doubt I'll be able to get more of that drug. My supplier was very, ahem, specific that it was for you. Still, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Or bones. Or tendons, ligaments, aw, you get the idea."

Searching around on the table she picked up the revolver.

"Just in case though," she said, "I'm going to put one bullet in each of your arms and legs. One goes in the shoulder and one then the last one in the brain. If you talk I may speed it up, or I may not. I'm losing patience."

Jennifer turned to the camera and switched it off.

"I never record the actual murders," she explained, "They're not interesting. Just the torture you know."

She leveled the revolver and took aim. There was a bang and Vanya jerked forward. Three more bangs followed it, followed by corresponding jerks. Just when she was about to put one in her shoulder a voice said;

"Do that again and I'm going to have to rip apart that pretty face you fucking psycho bitch."

It was Kraken.


	18. Chapter 18

"Oh," Jennifer said, sweetly surprised.

To Vanya's hearing Jennifer's voice didn't sound too surprised though. She had had years around the greatest liars and most passionate people in history to hear nuances in voices, the difference between sarcastic and furious. To Vanya it didn't sound surprised, it sounded downright excited.

She wanted to say something, warn him that he was dealing with a psycho, but her lips didn't work. Her tongue felt like lead in her mouth and she couldn't even bring up her hands in a warning gesture.

"Wasn't expecting you here," Jennifer finished.

There was a moment when Vanya half expected Kraken to leap forward and do something horrible. Instead he clenched his fists and spoke through gritted teeth.

"Couple ways this can go," he said, "I've got cops coming, so you can put everything down and go quietly, or you can stay, persist, and get killed."

"Who, me?" asked Jennifer, seeming genuinely surprised.

"Yes you."

"I think you misunderstood my intentions," she said, walking behind the chair Vanya was held and pointing the gun at her head, "Whatever happens, she's not getting out of here alive. Told your little sister here much too much for her to be able to get out, don't you see?"

The cold muzzle of the gun was actually the most comforting thing Vanya had felt all night. She had actually given up hope of getting out alive hours ago. Now she only needed to communicate that to him somehow, to make him understand that she didn't matter anymore and he needed to get the fuck out.

"Jennifer," Kraken said quietly, "hurt her any fucking more and you have no fucking chance of getting the fuck out of here either. You think you're fucking creative when it comes to hurting people? You have no fucking idea how much I can fuck you up before the fucking law gets here."

Behind her she could feel Jennifer's neck crane over the top of her head. By now of course, things were taking a turn for the blurry side.

"Talking like that's a bit of a turn on actually," she said, "But you wouldn't do that. It would be too obvious what'd happen."

"Doesn't fucking matter as long as you'd be taking a dirt nap," he said, "But know this; if that fucking gun so much as fucking twitches then you'll fucking wish that they'd got you first and went fucking medieval on your ass."

There was a slight pause.

"You care **that **much about your **sister**?"

In the seconds that followed Vanya could feel the wheels turn and the world come together for Jennifer. She recoiled in disgust.

"I know you're adopted but ewwwwww!" she mewled, "I mean, you're fucking her? Seriously?"

She felt Jennifer peer at her.

"She's so ugly too," she said, "I mean, if she was pretty then I'd understand but come on here! Just-"

Jennifer's tirade was cut off as Kraken's knife sailed through her wrist. She screamed and dropped the gun, stumbling back a bit. Kraken rushed up to her, his fist smashing into her face. There was a snapping of bone and cartilage and something landed in Vanya's hair. She didn't have to look to see that it was a tooth.

There was another scream and the dull sound of a body hitting concrete. There was a silence interrupted only by footsteps as Kraken rushed to her side.

"Vanya?" he murmured, "Come on, stay with me."

"…fine…" she managed.

"Don't worry about a thing," he said, his words fast and running together, "Lupo's bringing medics, and they have drugs and they'll get you to the hospital and everything'll be fine."

"Di…behind…" tried Vanya.

A shot rang out and Kraken doubled over, clutching his shoulder. Although battered Jennifer had managed to get up and limp over.

"One more shot left," she said, slurring her words, "Nice way to go, don't you think? Just a little bullet to the brain?"

Using all her strength Vanya rammed her broken and torn foot into Jennifer's ribs. She tottered and fell to the ground. Unfortunately the shock impact made Vanya slide to the ground as well. Before she even hit she was in pain from just the movement hurting her injuries. When she fell however, she heard and felt cracks and pops that disconcerted her beyond measure.

The doors that crashed down alerted her that for once her taxes were working for her. Guns' safety catches were removed and she heard Lupo's cool voice call out;

"Raise your hands miss; we don't want this to get messy."

Jennifer rose slowly to her feet. She looked around as though confused before shaking her head.

"I'm not going to prison," she said, "I'm just not."

Giggling insanely to herself she pressed the gun up to her temple. There was a bang and blood spurted from Jennifer's forehead before she fell to the ground.

"Fucking insane," muttered Lupo, "Medics!"

The last thing she remembered before passing out was the medics scurrying to obey.


	19. Chapter 19

"Have you seen this morning's paper?" asked Hargreeves nonchalantly.

"Not in the mood for it right now," grunted Kraken.

Hargreeves peered at him over the folds of the newspaper. Impatiently Kraken tapped his foot. Twenty hours had passed since Vanya had been taken to the hospital. In that time someone had had the bright idea to go and alert Hargreeves, who'd curtailed his trip and come back early. Kraken would track them down and kill them later.

"Three words make up its headline," Hargreeves continued, "_The Jennifer Incident_. They're calling it an **incident **.02, the literary word for catastrophe. Our reputation diminishes with every copy sold."

"Couldn't give a fuck right now," Kraken snarled.

"You," said Hargreeves through narrowed eyes, "are-"

"-grounded-" inserted Kraken.

"-for-"

"-one-"

"-year and are on-"

"-triple-" Kraken said, looking at his nails.

"-patrol, effective-" hissed Hargreeves.

"-immediately," finished Kraken, "Nice talk dickhead."

Turning on his heel he marched out of the room to the nearest window. Once there he climbed out of it and began his progress towards the hospital. He didn't bother to check in at reception; just simply found her room from the outside of the building. Then, as customary, he slipped in through the window.

With great efficiency he walked over to the door, closed, and jammed the lock. It was a nifty trick, one that he could undo in mere seconds if there was an emergency. He needn't have bothered though. He knew the night schedule of the orderlies and they wouldn't be bothering them for quite some time.

Finishing with the door he picked up a chair and dragged it over to her bed. From what the doctors had told him the night before she was stable; but she wouldn't be able to be out of the hospital for a long time. Just after that he had been dragged away by Spaceboy, who had insisted that Hargreeves wanted a chat. That chat had been prefaced by being locked in his room for several hours.

Now though, it was just him and her. It was barely even that though, seeing as she hadn't been conscious in hours. Still though, he knew somewhere that being close to her made a difference. Tiredly he leaned back in his chair. He'd been resolved for the long wait, knowing that even if he fell asleep in that damn plastic chair at least he'd be there.

Sometime later a slight pressure on his hand woke him up. His good eye flickered open to see Vanya staring at him. Kraken supposed that she was staring at him; most of her face was covered with bandages and IVs. Most of her arms were too for that matter, one of them in a cast the same way both of her legs were.

The only thing that remained untouched were her hands. Thankfully Jennifer hadn't managed to get to them, and they remained perfect. He flipped his own hand over so he could hold hers.

"I'm so fucking sorry," he muttered, "I… I can't believe…I never meant for you to get hurt. I love you too much…God…I just can't-"

Vanya's hand wriggled out of his so that she could put a finger over his lips. Her head shook slightly, as if to say that she didn't want to hear it. Kraken sighed.

"You're too damn good for me, that's what you are," he said.

Turning her hand over he kissed the inside of her palm and sighed again. Then he held her small, paler hand in his larger one carefully. Still careful he brought it up to touch his forehead, and squeezed it tenderly in a gesture of comfort. It was all he could really do, just like she'd done for him all those years ago.

From the look on her face she recognized the gesture as well. She squeezed back, but didn't attempt any sort of discourse. She just let the absolute quiet between them continue, much deeper than any words they'd have to share. This time though, they understood exactly what it meant between them.

Maybe in the years to come he would fuck things up so bad that the work of that summer would be destroyed. Maybe things would get bad. However, they would still have this. They would still have the silence that existed between them; that had been found when he had lost his eye and rediscovered during _The Jennifer Incident_.


End file.
